pre-booking things other than trips on Ventura

[jaxx48]

Hi from a newey!

 

we are booked on ventura (N013-22/5) and can see we could pre-book trips but what about the spa treatments & special restaurants? looked on website -doesn't appear to be the opportunity to pre-book either of these but wanted your expert advice.

 

anyone done this itinerary recommend specific trips??-particularly in Italy (Rome & florence/pisa) as i can see we are far from "real" destination once docked. like active stuff not sitting on a coach listening to a guide

 

(we are ocean village cruisers specifically because of the fun range of trips but don't like the canteen dining-tried RC but didn't like many things but really loved the formal dining and opportunity to meet others and make friends)

[tom_uk]

Hello Jaxx48.

 

We're on the same cruise, and we've already pre-booked the excursions we want to do. We haven't bothered with any spa treatments or the restaurants - we don't normally bother with the first, and may not bother with the restaurants this time.

 

Excursions: we're doing excursons at Livorno and Gibralter. We've been to Livorno once before, and went to Pisa via public transport, but it was all a bit laborious so this time e've gone the opposite way completely and we've booked the 'Florence Exclusive' excursion. As for Gibralter, we've never been there before and several of the excursions seemed to be good overviews so we've booked the 'Secrets of the Rock'.

 

Apart from those two we're going to be independent. We're familiar with Palma, Barcelona (a bit), Cannes, Rome and Lisbon so we're happy using public transport for each of them. Also we'll decide what we want to do in advance, and research how to do it - plus a fallback option - so we'll have a Plan A and a Plan B all ready when go ashore.

 

We've cruised on Ventura before, and we had a good cruise. Don't know if you're interested, but I blogged from it: the posts are here.

[kevinyork]

Rome is an easy train ride from the port. Come out of the port and turn right then down a few blocks and the station is signposted on the left. Takes about an hour to St Peters or 1hr 20 to the Termini main station.

 

From Livorno if you want to do Pisa and Florence in a day its too tight on your own and a trip is the only way in my opinion. If you are just going to Pisa then its a short train ride but getting from the port to the station looked a little awkward to us. Trains to Florence call at Pisa but as I said we didnt have the nerve to try it on our own.

 

I think Gibraltar trips are good value given that if you do it alone their is an entrance fee for the cable car and national park that makes up a fair part of the organised tour price so the extra cost for the full tour is very reasonable.

[jaxx48]

thanks for the tips guys, I'm still a bit scared to "go it alone" on a longer journey like Rome but i think i'll just hold off pre-booking and decide on the ship. do many trips get fully-booked?

Tom I enjoyed your blog - seems like you like your food LOL! Im pleased that you enjoyed the ship as reviews are still mixed but we always enjoy our holidays no matter what - attitude and making friends, along with sunshine and nice food/drink make up for any niggles in my opinion